Fairy, I really am a villain!

Look to the left, Luo Qingni is wearing a tank top, with beads of sweat on her arms and her skin is sparkling; her sleeping posture is very bad, I'm afraid she will punch him in the face in the middle of the night.

Look to the right, Jiang Xingchu's white nightgown is very thin and crooked; he doesn't know if it's an illusion, but he always feels that this guy is moving closer little by little.

In this situation, he could only look and listen to nothing indecently - if he attacked one, what if the other one heard the noise and got woken up?

It doesn’t matter, there are two of me in the same situation… Is it really okay?

Both girls are very reserved and have high self-respect. Maybe they would be willing to turn a blind eye to his philandering when they are alone together, but it would be too bad to do so openly.

"It's really like too many monks to drink water..." He muttered to himself, then covered his face with the quilt and fell asleep.

In the middle of the night, he was in a daze, as if someone was forcing fruit on him in his dream.

...

There seems to be no sunshine in the spiritual realm.

Because of his biological clock, Fang Xiwen still wakes up very early.

Without waking them up, he quietly got out of bed, took his clothes to wash, and went downstairs to make breakfast.

After passing through the lobby, he came to the kitchen on the first floor; he was somewhat surprised by the cleanliness of the place.

Three walls were built with neat bricks and stones. The area under the stove was pitch black, with some dusty firewood piled on top. On both sides were some large and small pots, cooking utensils, etc.

It was such a hideous monster, and he thought the dirty blood and rotten flesh would be smeared everywhere...but it wasn't.

'Either they have some degree of thinking ability, or they are just following the same behavior as before,' he concluded.

I carried a few plates of breakfast upstairs and opened the door. Jiang Xingchu was already awake, but the little glutton was still sleeping soundly, with the quilt having fallen to the ground.

The Saint Lady was sitting on the bed changing her clothes. She faced him with her smooth back, her hands behind her back, and said briskly, "Come here, help me tie the belt."

"...Fine."

She is so familiar with the Falling Star Hanging Silk, how could she not be able to tie it herself?

"Hey, where are you looking?"

"Who cares? Besides, do you have what I want to see?"

"Fang, Xi, Wen——"

"Shh!" He pointed at the little glutton.

After tying a bow casually, he walked to the table and tapped it twice with his fingers, making a few muffled sounds.

Luo Qingni was still sleeping.

"...Can't you just wake her up?" Jiang Xingchu rolled his eyes like a fool and was about to reach out to slap her.

"Wait, look at mine."

He just raised his palms, gathered his internal energy and fanned twice, blowing the smell of the hot egg soup over.

In a moment, Luo Qingni's nose twitched, then she pulled back the quilt and sat up. Her eyes swept around like a hungry wolf, and finally locked onto the table.

Her eyes lit up: "Have you eaten yet? What's the dish? What time is it?"

She jumped off the bed and reached out to grab him, but was stopped by Fang Xiwen, who took her outside to brush her teeth.

After leaving the room, he showed a confused expression.

Who kissed him last night?

...

"what about the taste?"

"It's delicious!" Luo Qingni seemed very happy. She nodded vigorously at him and handed him the bowl: "I want more!"

"Fortunately, I made five portions..." Fang Xiwen took it and looked at the Saint Lady: "Xingchu, how is it? You two have very different tastes, so your portion was made separately."

"Hmm? Well...it's okay, just so-so." Jiang Xingchu poked the bottom of the bowl a few times with his chopsticks, then scooped out the last piece of meat and said stubbornly.

During the entire breakfast, neither of them looked unusual, and it stands to reason that if one made such a big move, the other would definitely know.

So he began to doubt his own feelings.

'Is it really just a dream? How can it be so real? ? '

...

After the meal, the three of them rested for a while and then split up to search the inn.

According to Jiang Xingchu, the monster owner of the inn had been killed by their joint efforts, so no monster would "come back" to this room.

It’s hard to say whether there will be a sudden attack, but it is always safer than picking a random one.

On the other hand, since the innkeeper has the habit of keeping accounts, he might also write down some things in his life with paper and pen; if he can find relevant things, it may help to solve the mystery of the town.

To sum up, Jiang Xingchu was responsible for searching the counter area, Luo Qingni went to the second floor where there were fewer things, and Fang Xiwen was responsible for the kitchen and other living areas on the first floor.

"This is..."

In the room behind the counter, Fang Xiwen crawled out from under the bed and looked at the small rattle in his hand.

It was covered with dust, the cowhide drumhead was very old, only one bullet was left on either side, and the bamboo handle was rotten and broken.

'Originally, there were children in this family...'

But the only monster in the inn is the owner... where are the others?

He was also a little concerned about why the corrugated drum was deep under the bed: if it had fallen in there accidentally, why wasn't it taken out?

A more reasonable explanation is that the drum was taken under the bed by a child to play with.

"Did something happen? The adults hid the child...?"

He searched the house again and found several boxes of needlework, some faded rouge, and some mature women's clothing.

There should be a family of three living here: the father who is the innkeeper, the mother who may help in the kitchen, and a child who is still playing with rattles.

Fang Xiwen didn't find any paper records, and the few that were available had rotted away.

After he placed the remains in a row on the table, he walked out of the room and said, "I have some gains here."

“I have a big harvest.”

I saw Jiang Xingchu lying on the counter, wearing gloves and flipping through a booklet with a loud voice.

"What's the catch?" He walked over.

"It should be the innkeeper's essay," Jiang Xingchu said, pushing the booklet over: "Take a closer look."

I saw that it was written on the blank back of the account book, but the handwriting was very neat. Although it was blurry, I could still tell which word it was:

'Last year there was a severe drought, and business in the store has become more prosperous.'

'I heard that the less the harvest, the more taxes the government levied, and many refugees abandoned their fields and went to the city to find a living, so my business picked up. But I was a little worried.

If no one takes care of the crops, how can we feed the people in the city?'

"Food is getting more expensive. Fortunately, I prepared March's supply in advance, sold a small amount at a high price, and bought new cloth for the winter."

"When the time comes, I'll just use a water jar to block the door, and even the biggest disaster will be over..."

Up to this point, his handwriting was still very neat, and one could even see his complacency between the lines.

Then, the following essay is a bit incomplete:

'A distant relative came to me, but I sent him away. He brought news that something big had happened in the east, and that the several ferry crossings connected to Guihua Mountain had stopped operating.'

"The Six Gates are still posting notices everywhere, asking those with surplus grain to open their warehouses and release them, saying that they will be dealt with within half a month; damn it, I don't believe it!"

"I heard that Mrs. Liu helped a relative who had fled to the east. The next day, the greyhound in her family got sick with a strange disease. It would bite anyone it saw, leaving wounds covered in pus and blood. This canine plague is very serious."

"Something terrible has happened! Liu and Mrs. Liu's entire family are dead, only the dog is still alive!

I heard that it can't be killed by fire, and it can still run even if its body is broken into two pieces. It must be possessed by a monster!"

Later his handwriting became illegible and he became impatient:

'Another family died today. Blacksmith Xiao Wu has not yet found a wife...'

'Another family died.'

'Wang Dazhuang, Wang Dazhuang, it's time to make a decision. I'm afraid we don't have enough food for three months. You should take your wife and children and flee, and give up your family business that has lasted for hundreds of years!'

Then, a few more pages were left blank:

"...someone came to tell me that I decided not to run away for now."

'They are here, we are saved!

Haha!

Luckily I didn't escape. If I were to join that damned court, I'd have to be——'

The essay ends abruptly. Omitting many fragments that are difficult to recognize, these are the main contents.

After reading it twice, Fang Xiwen put down the booklet and pondered for a while: "I roughly understand it."

"How to say?"

"There are three stages and two nodes in total..." He raised his palm and gestured.

"That's right!" Jiang Xingchu's eyes lit up, and he clapped his hands. The two began to discuss:

The performance in the first stage was relatively normal. There was a severe drought that year, and the court did not help but imposed heavy taxes... How to put it, it was consistent with his imagination of the Gao family.

The royal family didn't seem to care about the lives of their subordinates. They responded only because they were afraid that the peasants would revolt, so they mainly focused on disaster relief and appeasement, and iron-blooded suppression.

The former is costly and stressful, while the latter can serve as a warning to others. Given the Gao family's confidence, they will definitely choose the latter.

"Although the method is very brutal, it is still normal at this stage. On the one hand, they use force to suppress it, and on the other hand, the Six Gates arrest people everywhere to silence them and whitewash the situation."

"Yes," Jiang Xingchu flipped through a few pages and pointed, "The first turning point is here. Mrs. Liu took in a man from the 'east', and the dog in her home got a 'strange disease', biting people everywhere as if possessed by a ghost.

It is useless to burn it with fire, every household closes the door...”

"Right," Fang Xiwen gestured and looked at Luo Qingni who had just come downstairs: "Remember the wolf demon we met last time? Does it also have this special 'vitality'?"

After leaning over to take a look and listening to the explanation, Luo Qingni nodded: "Yes, it is very similar to the one inside."

Jiang Xingchu followed up, "Yes. After passing this first node, the town's disaster changed from 'drought' to 'demon disaster'; but surprisingly, I don't know whether the court still had no reaction, or the boss didn't write it in... The situation has become so serious that he has to leave his hometown with his wife and children."

After looking at each other for a while, their gazes fell back to the booklet, and they could more or less feel the boss's helplessness.